David Adol Buoth
Age: 27
Region: Upper Nile
I am form Bor. I left my village when I was ten years old because I heard there was an attack by the
Khartoum government. I have one brother but no sisters. My brother left home in 1998 and went to
Panyido. In 1991, he joined the SPLA.
When we left the village, we didn’t have any food. I was difficult to find something to eat. We had
maize. It was hard to cook and to carry water. I carried water in the container and it became very hot.
When I was on my journey, I was barefoot. I was injured but there was no medication.
I came to Phoenix on December 23, 2000. It was different from where I lived. I saw many things I had
never seen before, like air conditioning and different foods. Even pizza was hard to eat. It didn’t smell
good. The chicken from the supermarket didn’t taste good because we were used to having it natural.
Most of the time, it was difficult to adjust to living here. In Africa you depend on relatives. In America
you depend on yourself. In our culture, people depend on your relatives to help you out until you grow
up. When you grow up, you help your parents back. I send money back to Africa to help my family.
The best thing about America is that the freedom of speech and civil liberties. In other parts of the
world, if you can express your opinion, you’ll be in jail or killed. In America, no one will arrest you. What
I liked least about living here is the amount of guns. The crime here is surprising. The lifestyles are
different.
I work for Washington Mutual Bank and I deliver transaction bags and inter office mail. I plan to attend
Phoenix Community College and study business management. In business, you need capital, and then
you can decide what type of business you want to do. I would like to be self-employed.